On Friday's CNN Newsroom, host Brianna Keilar allowed race-obsessed Georgetown University professor and former MSNBC contributor Michael Eric Dyson to spout misinformation as he grasped for evidence to claim there has been a double standard in the treatment of the cop implicated in the death of black victim George Floyd in contrast with cops who have killed whites.
Reacting to news that, four days after the incident, former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin has been arrested for the death of Floyd, Dyson incorrectly claimed that black police officer Mohamed Noor was immediately arrested after he killed Justine Damond, a white woman in July 2017.
But, in fact, Noor was not arrested until eight months went by, and was even allowed to keep his job until the day he was arrested.
At 1:40 p.m. Eastern, after news broke of Chauvin's arrest, Keilar asked: "But tell us your reaction to this news that Derek Chauvin -- the officer who had his knee on George Floyd's neck -- has now been taken into custody?"
Dyson's first instinct was to make a claim that could not be further from the truth as he sought to argue there is a racial double standard in how police officers are treated after deadly incidents:
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, it is tragic that it took all of this to make a gesture legally -- much less, morally -- that other people can take for granted. When we mention Officer Noor and other police people -- a black and Muslim man who mistakenly, as far as we can tell, shot a white woman in the dark -- was immediately arrested, and then dispatched with in the legal system.
He added: "So black people have to fight as hard as they can to get what other people can take for granted."
But, in the immediate aftermath of Noor killing Damond on the night of July 17, 2017, the Minneapolis officer was put on administrative leave and allowed to keep his job until March 2018 when Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman charged him with murder. Noor was fired and arrested on the same day. Freeman is the same prosecutor who is handling the case against Chauvin.
If there was a racial double standard in the two incidents, it cut substantially in the direction opposite to Dyson's claims.
Additionally, when Noor was put on trial in April 2019, the dominant liberal media showed little interest, but, by contrast, when white female Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was tried for wrongfully killing black male victim Botham Jean, the same media gave near-daily updates of the trial.
And, although only about 25 percent of police shooting victims are black, the other 75 percent who are mostly white or Hispanic receive much less attention by the media.
After Dyson spent nearly three minutes ranting about the issue, Keilar praised his analysis as she wrapped up: "Michael, thank you so much. I think your words are so important in this moment, I think, as they really just cut through to people who are trying to understand what's going on."
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Friday, May 29, CNN Newsroom with Briann Keilar:
BRIANNA KEILAR: But tell us your reaction to this news that Derek Chauvin -- the officer who had his knee on George Floyd's neck -- has now been taken into custody?
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, it is tragic that it took all of this to make a gesture legally -- much less, morally -- that other people can take for granted. When we mention Officer Noor and other police people -- a black and Muslim man who mistakenly, as far as we can tell, shot a white woman in the dark -- was immediately arrested, and then dispatched with in the legal system.
So black people have to fight as hard as they can to get what other people can take for granted. We are meant to view this as a ceiling, and it's nothing but a floor. We are to Hallelujahs and Hosannas about a fundamental act of justice you should do and we should congratulate you for? No. This is but the first step toward a broader embrace of a majestic sweep of justice that will clear away the cobwebs of inequality that have existed in that culture there in Minneapolis, and, as attorney (Laura) Coates talked about them, the blizzard of legal technicalities that may in some sense eviscerate or undermine compromised the prospect for justice. This is at least the first step.
Why is it with Ahmaud Arbery we have to fight so hard just to get men arrested? Why is it that in this case a city has to go up in flames? The grief of black people -- the self-immolation, if you will, of an entire community as a result of the consternating and vicious consequences of racial injustice in that city. Why does it take the flames of a city to light the path for a district attorney or whoever it is makes the decision to do what they did today.
Then, on top of that, when you have the President of the United States of America with craven disregard for the country -- with outlandish inappropriateness going forward to suggest that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." Sir, the shooting -- or the kneeling to death of a black man is what started with what happened with this rebellion, and so cause and effect are confused, and the President of the United States of America is a major perpetrator of that.
But locally on the scene, African American people and their allies -- let's not forget that Minnesota and Minneapolis in particular is a huge mélange of races, of classes. It's a melting pot, ethnically speaking. Those people who were out there last night are a rainbow coalition of agony, anger, and resentment against the viciousness of anti-blackness directed at those people. So thank God people have come together. Maybe we can do it now nonviolently so that we can adjudicate these claims of injustice against Mr. Floyd, and we can prevent them from occurring in the future.
KEILAR: Michael, thank you so much. I think your words are so important in this moment, I think, as they really just cut through to people who are trying to understand what's going on.
